Temple Tempest
Disclaimer: Dinosaur King is owned by Sunrise, Shout Factory, 4kidsTV, and any other company I missed. I own nothing
"Talking"
Thinking
"Flashback"
DK
This time, the Alpha Gang was traveling through the jungles of Peru in search of one of the ancient temples. The reason why was because this was a temple they were told contained Alpha Metal, and after their last pitiful attempt to collect the metal, they definitely needed this mission to redeem themselves. "How are we supposed to find the Temple of the Moon?" Ursula asked in frustration as they passed through smaller ruins. "What are we, astronauts?"
"Easy! It says right here it's below the Temple of the Sun." Ed answered as he looked at their map.
"Oh, well, in that case, you wanna tell me how we're supposed to find the Temple of the Sun?!" Ursula stopped and yelled at him.
"Errrrr!" Ed tensed with fear at Ursula's angry face only inches from his punchable one.
"Let's put our heads together and figure out this map Dr.Z gave us." Zander interrupted as he looked at the map, which was very poorly drawn and didn't resemble their location at all. "If you ask me, It looks like he pulled it of the back of a cereal box." He joked at the cartoonish appearance of their only guide to success.
As they all looked at the map, trying to make any sense of it, Ursula heard the sounds of people in the distance. "Shh! There's somebody here!" She told her teammates.
"Hmm? What are you talking about?" Ed asked her. "I don't hear anything." Immediately after he said, that a gong ran out. "Never mind."
The trio went to the nearest pyramid and saw a group of men kneeling in front of it as a priest stood on the staircase and began speaking. "O, great shiny Spirit of the Sun. We, your humble servants, pledge to defend your temple! Guide us and keep our village peaceful, well-lit, and toasty with your bounteous rays!" The Priest announced.
"Spirit of the Sun, huh?" Ursula repeated. "So that must mean this is the Temple of the Sun!" She said as she grabbed a pickaxe and leapt from their hiding place. "Oh, yeah!" She exclaimed as she ran for the temple. "If the Temple of the Moon is underneath, then I'll just open up a little basement door." She announced as she swung her axe at the base of the temple. "Aah!" Once it made contact with the stone, Ursula began quivering as the axe shook. Zander and Ed grabbed onto her, but they started quivering as well.
The Priest didn't take kindly to this. "Infidels! Intruders! Stay away from this temple!" He ordered them.
"Sorry, your big-hattedness, but we were told there was a Temple of the Moon around here somewhere. Have you got one?" Ursula asked him as they continued quivering.
The Priest's face immediately went pale. "Aah! The-the-the Temple of the Moon?!" Saying this made the other villagers panic as well. "Fools!" The priest told the trio as he shook with fear. "The Temple of the Moon is the entranceway into the Underworld! No mortal who begins that journey has ever made it out alive!"
This got Zander and Ed as pale as they could become in fear. "Aah! Ursula, I've seen the brochure, and the Underworld is not a place I want to visit!" Zander told her and he began shaking in fear.
"Yeah, let's stay in the overworld!" Ed added.
"Don't tell me you two actually believe in all those phony-baloney superstitions!" Ursula yelled at them, scaring them more than what the priest just said. "Now quit your whining and help me dig!"
"All right." The two men said reluctantly as they began picking at the temple.
All of the villagers began moaning as they feared what was about to happen. "Aaah!" "This is unfair!" They bowed and hopped that might save them from the evil below.
"What's all the racket?" Ursula asked once the gong was rung again. The process was going to take a while, and they didn't need this annoyance as well. There had to be a faster way, and she immediately got an idea. "Oh, hey, I know. Let's get Brontikens to do this for us!" She punched her palm at her brilliance.
"Oh, I don't think that's such a-"
"Quit arguing and summon him, Zander, now!" Ursula screamed at the top of her lungs, cutting his worries off. Zander replied in milliseconds.
"ALPHA SLASH! LET'S GO, BRONTIKENS! GET TO WORK!"
"Aaaah!" The villagers all screamed as Brontikens appeared and opened a perfectly shaped opening with a bash from his head. Only the priest remained silent, but tensed at what he saw.
"Ah, it worked!" Ursula beamed as they appeared in front of the hole. "So let's go!" She declared as she dragged Zander and Ed with her, much to their objections.
"No intrusions!" Brontikens roared at the villagers as he started chasing them away. While this could be seen as for his entertainment, he was more doing it for their own sake.
As that happened, the Priest collapsed to the ground and shook in fear. "Oh, we're doomed! It's the rage of the spirit!"
(Intro Theme)
At the D-Lab, Spike was currently showing off a new item he had, a crystal skull. "Whoa, where'd you get that, Dad?" Max asked in astonishment.
"It's a skull, but it's kinda pretty." Zoe said as she and the rest of the D-Team looked at it.
"Pretty impressive, I'd say." Spike bragged. "It's a Peruvian skull found in the ruins and made of solid crystal, and it's estimated to be several thousand years old." Spike explained.
"No way!" "Really?" "It is?!" The others asked in surprise, wondering how Spike was able to obtain such an object.
"You forgot to mention that it's a replica." Reese reminded him without looking away from her computer work..
"Aw, man, so it's just a fake". Chomp said disappointingly.
"Uh. I prefer the term 'quality reproduction'." Spike sheepishly retorted. "And besides the original's never been located." He told them.
"How'd they know it exists then?" Terry asked him.
"From stories in the local villages claimed to have been passed down from generation to generation." Spike answered.
"How could something like that get made thousands of years ago?" Reese asked as she looked at the skull's design.
"Well, that's the mystery of the crystal skull." Spike said. "They couldn't have made it with the technology they had in those days, and no one really knows what the skull was used for, either. The world's chock-full of mysterious places and items like this one."
"That's the fun of studying artifacts." Rex said.
"Exactly, Rex. In fact, when light hits the skull just right..." Spike said as he placed it on a table screen near the glowing thing in the center (still don't know what that is) and turned it on. As the lights in the room dimmed and the screen lit up green, the skull started to glow as well, namely the eyes. "You have your very own headlight!" Spike told them. "Head light! Ha, ha, ha, ha!" He laughed at his own pun.
"Interesting." Chomp said as he gently pushed it with his nose, accidentally making the skull roll off the table.
"Aah! Chomp, no! You're gonna break it!" Spike exclaimed as the skull rolled off the elevation and onto the level below them, right onto a conveniently placed pillow. "Oh, thank goodness."
But the chaos wasn't over when Rocko walked right past where it landed. "Oh, there's the ball." He said as he picked it up in his arms and ran back to the sanctuary to continue that baseball game they were playing.
"No, Rocko! It's not a baseball!" Rex yelled at him, but Rocko was already back in the sanctuary when that happened.
"Don't just stand there, kids!" Spike yelled at them. "Somebody stop him before he shatters my skull!"
Before the kids could, however, the sound of a painful scream rang through the lab. "Aaaaggghh!" After it calmed down, Gertie walked out of the sanctuary with many glass splinters on her tail. "I think this is yours?" She asked sarcastically as she showed them her wounded tail.
"Aah!" Spike screamed in horror at what happened to his skull.
"Oh, boy." Zoe sighed.
"I hope I saved the receipt." Spike quietly said as Gertie walked over to get her tail checked.
At that moment, the Dino Holder started detecting the next signal. "Ah, the Dino Holder's got something." Max said.
"I'll get a fix on it." Reese said as she typed on her computer before the map was pulled up. "It's from the ancient ruins in Peru." She told them.
"Let's go, guys!" Max exclaimed as they got on the transporter. "See ya, Dad!" He said before teleporting away.
"I wonder if they'll let me exchange it." Spike said as he picked the pieces off Gertie's tail before sobbing into his arm.
"Good thing it was a fake." Gertie mumbled just loud enough for Spike to hear.
"Yeah. And it's a replica, not a fake!" Spike cried. "Ohohohohoho!"
DK
One bright flash later, and the team found themselves in front of the Temple of the Sun. The villagers were all gathered by the hole that Brontikens made and were kneeling before one man came up to the Priest, holding a doll in his hands. "Here's the doll you requested, Excellency."
"We're left with no other choice but to offer it as a gift." The Priest said as he stood back up.
"What are they doing with that doll?" Max asked as they spied on the group.
"Don't know." Rex replied. "Maybe it's an offering of some kind."
Their conversation didn't go unheard by the Priest as he turned in their direction along with the other villagers. "Hmm? What do you want with our village?" He demanded out of them, not liking more outsiders appearing on the same day.
"Hello, sir. We came looking for a dinosaur." Max said as he and the others walked over to the men, seeing as they were spotted and hiding might give them the wrong idea.
"Dinosaur?" The Priest repeated with confusion as to why they'd ask such a thing.
"Yeah, and I bet ya it made this hole, didn't it?" Rex asked as he looked at the opening in front of them.
"No, it did not!" The Priest yelled at him. "That was divine rage!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Terry asked as he looked to the others, who had nothing.
"Hmmm?" Zoe said in confusion.
"It was thanks to intruders like you that this happened!" The Priest explained as he led the other villagers away. "Leave us alone and get back on your tour bus!"
"Wait, Mister! Are you saying someone else was here?" Max asked. "Is that what caused the divine rage to get mad at you?"
"Yes, three trouble-makers created this chaos." The Priest stopped and responded.
"Sounds like the old lady and the Alpha Gang." Tank said.
"I heard that! Someone said old lady!" Ursula yelled from all the way inside the temple.
"And ear she is!" Zander and Ed said as they pointed to her enlarged ear.
"Ugh, this place is too confusing." Ursula said as they entered a room. "How are we supposed to know which path will lead us to the mysterious Temple of the Moon?"
Zander was about to answer before noticing a familiar-looking stone object on the ground. "Ugh, that same rock again!" He said in annoyance. "We've just been going around in circles like stupid lab rats! Oh-ho!" He said as he fell to his hands and knees and cried while Ed followed collapsed on his back.
"Without the cheese at the end." Ed sobbed.
"Oh, quit your sniveling, you lightweights." Ursula told them. "Dr.Z ordered us to search this temple and bring back the Alpha Metal, and that's exactly what we're going to do!"
"Even if it means going into the Underworld?" Zander asked as he looked up at her.
"Enough about the Underworld!" Ursula yelled before doing something that made the two men get back on their feet and out of her way. "Get up and start searching, or I'll give you some size-seven motivation into a world you'll never forget!" She screamed as she kicked a wall, making a large hole in it, making Zander and Ed horrified. "And next time, it won't be a wall I put a hole into!"
As she said that, a capsule fell out of the hole. "Wait, look at this." Zander said as he and Ed crawled over to it.
"Hey, I'm threatening you here!" Ursula reminded them.
"Yeah, but look what fell out of the wall." Zander said as he pointed to the capsule.
"Hey." Ursula said as she grabbed it and opened it up. "There's a card inside. Ooh, and it's a really powerful Move Card, too."
"Do you think that maybe this is a good sign?" Ed asked her.
"No doubt. I'd say that things are looking up." Zander said.
"So, no more talk about the Underworld?" Ursula asked them like a mother.
"Mm-hmm." They nodded. It seemed like they might just have a lucky day after all.
DK
Back outside, the others were still discussing what to do about the intrusion on the temple. "The three intruders went in through here, didn't they?" Terry asked the leader.
"That's right. They seemed to think there was a treasure of some sort inside." The Priest told them.
"Treasure?" Chomp repeated.
"Probably something they're gonna steal and take back to that crazy doctor." Paris said.
"You're probably right." Ace agreed.
"The Temple of the Moon is the resting place of the Moon Spirit." The Priest told them. "If these intruders awaken the Moon Spirit from his centuries of rest, something unspeakable will happen."
"Don't worry. The D-Team is on the case! No sweat!" Max assured him.
The others nodded and were about to go after the Alpha Gang. "Stop!" The Priest yelled at them, making kids and dinosaurs stop in their tracks.
"What now?" Tank asked in frustration. "We can handle those idiots just fine."
"It's not the intruders we need to deal with, but the Moon Spirit." The Priest told her. "These things cannot be handled by outsiders. We have our own way of doing things, and the only way to restore the spirit's happiness is to make children eat deep-fried peanut butter and pickle sandwiches."
"Peanut butter and pickle sandwiches?!" The kids exclaimed in horror.
"Just kidding." The Priest assured them, making the kids glare at him. "We will offer it the doll of serenity." The name made the villagers bow.
"Hey, how about letting me offer the doll?" Max requested.
"Huh?" Everyone looked at the boy in confusion.
"Very well, if you're sure." The Priest warned him. Max responded by rubbing under his nose and chuckling.
DK
The villagers dressed Max in a ceremonial robe and lead him down the tunnels to where the Temple of the Moon is. "I can't believe Max wanted to be the one to offer the doll." Rex whispered.
"I think he just liked the idea of wearing the ceremonial robe." Chomp said. "As well as all the attention."
After a while, they reached a large room with a circle of small pillars and a table in the middle. The doll was placed on the table and everyone bowed. "Ho-kaa!" The villagers chanted.
"This is the scary Moon Temple?" Spiny asked one of the villagers.
"No, but this is a close as we can get to it." The villager responded, pointing to the lack of other paths besides the way they entered.
Suddenly, the room began to shake like an earthquake was happening. The villagers started to panic, thinking the Moon Spirit was upset with the offering. "Your offering is appreciated." A familiar voice rang through the room. "But it's not what I want." Before any of the villagers could ask what he wanted, Brontikens stepped out of the shadows and scared away the villagers. "I said no interferences. I guess I'll have to make an example." He said as he approached the Priest. He gently pushed the Priest to the ground with the spike on his foot and prepared to finish him off by squishing him.
"Aah!" The Priest screamed as a foot was raised over him and came down uncomfortably slowly.
"Brontikens!" Terry growled before leaping onto his nose and biting it.
"Insolent pest!" Brontikens said as he tried to get him off by shaking his head around, placing his foot down to keep balance. Thankfully avoiding the priest by a lot.
"You must go, Excellency!" One of the villagers said as he helped the Priest up and lead him away with the others, leaving only the D-Team and their adversary.
Brontikens managed to throw Terry off, but the Tyrannosaurus landed on his feet next to the rest of his team. Ursula laughed to announce their presence. "Hahahaha! Well, if it isn't my least-favorite bunch of obnoxious runts come to visit." She said as she leaned against a pillar, her teammates doing the same. "What'd you think of all the rage we've created?"
"Why are you looking for the Temple of the Moon anyway?" Chomp asked them.
"You're gonna steal something from it, aren't you?" Tank accused them.
"Yes, we plan on stealing the Alpha Metal, if you must know, traitor." Zander said.
"Alpha Metal?" The others repeated.
"Alpha Metal's a rare alloy that we need to keep our machines working. It's what they were looking for when you saw them at the mine a while back." Brontikens explained.
"Don't tell the enemy that, you blabbermouth!" Ursula yelled at him. "Go beat them all up instead!"
"Very well." The Apatosaurus said as he advanced forward.
"Max, catch!" Rex shouted to him as he tossed him his Dino Holder.
"Oh, yeah!" Max exclaimed as he grabbed it and took off the robe before summing Terry to full-size.
"DINO SLASH! FLAME UP, TYRANNOSAURUS!"
Once Terry landed, the battle began with him biting into one of the Apatosaur's legs in an effort to knock him over. Brontikens roared in anger before kicking the Tyrannosaurus off, sending him into one of the pillars. "Oh, no!" Max exclaimed.
Brontikens charged forward as Terry got back up. Moving to the side, he was able to knock Brontikens to the side with a tackle. "Good job!" The others cheered.
"Let's finish it!" Max exclaimed as he opened his Dino Holder and got a Move Card. "Volcano Burst!"
As Terry gathered fire, Ursula decided to counterattack with their secret weapon. "Let's see what this new Move Card can do." She said as she pulled it out and slashed it. "Alpha Slash!"
Terry sent the fire right towards Brontikens. But before it could hit him, something appeared and blocked the attack. Once the fire cleared, everyone saw a small, pink ankylosaur with a gray head and underbelly, many small gray bumps on its back, three spikes on its neck that got larger the closer they were to the middle with the ones on the shoulder being the largest, and a lack of a club tail. "Too bad!" It mocked them like a young child.
"What is that?!" Terry exclaimed, not recognizing the species of this new dinosaur.
"Wow! It's a Pawpawsaurus!" Rex gasped.
"Explain, Brontikens." Ursula said smugly, enjoying their reactions.
"Of course." He replied before addressing the D-Team. "The Pawpawsaurus is part of the Tag Team Move Card. With it, he can absorb a huge number of enemy attacks to defend his teammate. Granted, he does have a limit, but his stamina is too great for you to defeat at your current state."
"I've never heard of anything like that." Tank said in shock, surprised there was another counter move beside her Earth Barrier.
"Did I do good?" The Pawpawsaurus asked Brontikens, shaking his tail like a happy dog being complimented by its owner.
"You did very well, kid." Brontikens replied. He noticed Terry was getting back up and hit him with his tail, sending the Tyrannosaurus sliding across the room.
"Attack again, Bro!" Chomp encouraged.
Terry tried to go in for another attack, but the Pawpawsaurus got in his way again, stopping the Tyrannosaurus and nearly tripping the larger theropod. Not that Terry falling on top of him would have hurt the Pawpawsaurus. "He keeps blockin' me!" He told the others.
"Better get used to it." Ursula told him. "You can attack Brontikens until the Calamosaurus come home and our Pawpawsaurus will absorb everything you throw our way."
Brontikens hit him again with his tail and Terry was back rolling on the floor. "Great hit, Brontikens!" Zander cheered.
"Now finish him off!" Ed cheered with a pumped fist.
Terry got up and tried to go again, but Pawpawsaurus just blocked him and sent him back again with a throw from his head. "This isn't gonna work." Ace said. "Pawpawsaurus won't let any attacks get through."
"You creeps don't fight fair!" Zoe yelled at them, ignoring the fact she uses dinosaurs in a similar manner that could be considered just as or even more unfair.
"Never mind that. I've got one last trick up my sleeves." Terry said as he struggled to get up.
"Why is the T-Rex still fighting?" The Pawpawsaurus asked.
"He's a very strong one." Brontikens told him. "He won't go down easily."
"Terry, Ultimate Fire!" Max exclaimed as he swiped the card.
Terry erupted in flames and charged right towards Brontikens. But the Pawpawsaurus tackled him from the side and sent him flying into the table before slamming into another pillar. "Even that attack didn't work." Rex said grimly.
"Take that, meanie!" The Pawpawsaurus told him, shaking his head in pain from the attack. If he took that attack head on he might not have survived it.
All of a sudden, the room began to shake. "Now what?" Paris asked.
Starting with the one Terry crashed into, the circle of pillars started to descend to the ground and the wall behind the Alpha Gang opened up and. "Huh?! What's happening?!" Ursula asked in fear.
"A secret passage!" Max exclaimed in realization and what they had just discovered.
"This must be it!" Ursula said in delight once the shaking stopped. "The entrance to the Temple of the Moon!"
"Why don't you go get the Alpha Metal?" Ed suggested. "I'll wait here."
"Good idea! Ed and I will keep a good lookout." Zander added, clearly sounding like both he and Ed still had reservations about going into the Underworld.
"I see you need a little encouragement." Ursula growled before hitting them into the tunnel before running in herself. "Come on, Brontikens! Pawpaw, you stay here!"
Brontikens, knowing Terry can't fight anymore, tried to go after them, but he was too large to fit through the tunnel and comedically got his head stuck. "You can't be serious." He growled in both frustration and embarrassment.
"You get back here and fight!" Max said as he ran after them, only for Pawpaw to block his path.
"You're not going anywhere, meanie!" He said to the brunette.
"Please get outta the way." Max told him. "I don't wanna hurt you, but I've got to get around you."
"You're just saying that so I'll let my guard down." Pawpaw said as he shifted position so his side was facing the D-Team, who were now all at Max's side.
Max turned to see if Terry could help change his mind, but the Tyrannosaurus still laid on the ground in pain. "Terry needs some time to recover." He said as he recalled him.
When Terry was back in chibi form, he collapsed again on the ground. "Are you all right, Terry?" Max asked as they ran over to check on him.
"He doesn't look so good." Zoe said worryingly.
"You okay?" Rex asked.
Seeing as the kids were occupied, Pawpaw turned around and tried to squeeze through the tunnel, which was now blocked by rubble caused by Brontikens squeezing through, but couldn't until he was recalled alongside the Apatosaurus. The D-Team watched as the card went into Ursula's hands. "So, let's go find that Alpha Metal, boys." Ursula told them.
"Aye, aye!" The men responded as they went deeper into the passage.
DK
After getting through the rubble blocking the path, the D-Team lost track of the Alpha Gang continued down the tunnels in search of the Temple of the Moon before the the trio could find it. "I'll bet nobody's been down in these tunnels for, like, a thousand years." Max said as he climbed through the hole in the rubble.
The rest of the team followed him, with Terry limping in the back. He was still weak from his tussle with Pawpaw. Ace saw this and walked over to him. "How are you holding up?" He asked the Tyrannosaurus.
"Just fine." Terry replied, sounding bitter about something.
"You don't have to lie. I can see you're limping." Ace pointed to his feet, where he the Tyrannosaurus was clearly favoring his left side over his right.
"Huh. The fight's not the problem I'm concerned about." Terry told him. "It's Pawpaw I'm worried about."
"Ah." Ace realized. "Worried you'll have to fight him again?"
"No. Well, a bit. It's just what the Alpha Gang is doing with him really ticks me off." Terry said, growling slightly. "You heard him, Ace, he's only a child."
"So you're mad that they're using him to fight?" Ace guessed Terry's reason for being upset.
"No, the kid can clearly fend for himself. And, secretly, I kind of want to have that power for myself." Terry said sheepishly before he shook his head to collect his thoughts. "I just can't believe the Alpha Gang would stoop so low as to corrupting children!"
"I don't think corruption is the right word." Ace told him. "It's just that Pawpaw is new to this world, like the rest of us. And he's young. He's going to turn to the first ones that accept him into their herd. Even if it's Brontikens."
"Hey, look." Zoe's comment broke the two out of their conversation and they ran to catch up with the rest of the group. "Hieroglyphics." She said as she touched one of the many on the wall. When she did, it started to sink into the wall. "Huh?"
The room started to shake as something erupted from the rubble. When the dust cleared, it turned out to be a giant, pink centipede. "What is that thing?!" Rex exclaimed.
"Who cares?! Run for it!" Max screamed as they ran from the giant creature.
DK
With the Alpha Gang, they were walking through a much more darker tunnel. Something that was really creeping Zander out. "Oh, well. No Alpha Metal. Might as well head back." He said nervously.
"You can stay here and wait for us all by yourself if you want to." Ursula told him, knowing which option he'd take.
"No! That's okay! I'm coming!" Zander said as he ran towards them, accidentally tripping on a loose tile. "Ohhh!"
The sound of rumbling filled the room. "Uh-oh." The trio said before a net snatched them and carried them through a corridor of traps. First; they went over an open flame. "Fire! Hot, hot, hot!" Then; they went through a waterfall. "Water! Blub, blub, blub!" Finally; they went through a room of ice. "Ice! Cold, cold, cold!"
At last, the net dropped them on solid ground. "Well, I have to admit I'm pretty impressed with the security system." Ursula said as they got up on their fours.
"Maybe we should take the hint and turn back." Zander said.
"Yeah, Ursula, I don't think we're gonna find any Alpha Metal." Ed agreed.
"Haven't you lame-brains even seen any Indiana Jones movies?" Ursula asked them. "The traps and devices always get tougher the closer he gets to the big treasure!"
"Do you really think it's nearby?" Zander asked, starting to get more confident with Ursula's point.
"I would bet on it! Ha, ha, ha-wait a minute." Ursula said, stopping her laughing and looked at her hands., which were covered in small punctures. "Does something feel a little prickly?"
Looking down, the trio saw they landed right on a pit of spikes, somehow not getting skewered. "Aah!" They screamed once the pain kicked in thanks to the realization as they jumped so high they crashed into the ceiling. "We get the point!"
DK
As the Alpha Gang continued their suffering, the D-Team were still running from the centipede. "Aah!" Eventually, they made their way to the end of the tunnel, only for it to be blocked by a wall. "It's a dead-end!" Max exclaimed as he tried to knock it down with his shoulder while others tried pushing. Obviously, this did nothing.
"There's no way out!" Paris screamed as she hid behind Chomp once the centipede caught up with them.
"Maybe one of our dinos could handle this ugly thing?!" Zoe suggested and got out her Dino Holder.
"No, there's no room in here for that." Max told her. "The ceiling will come down and crush us all!"
Rex looked around frantically for another way out when he noticed something hidden that looked promising. "There's some kind of a lever thing over here!" He told them as he pointed to a hole in the wall where he saw said lever. "It might be the switch to open this door!" He tried reaching into the hole to grab it, but it was too far in. "But I can't reach my hand in that far!"
"Let me try!" Ace said as he squeezed in thanks to his slender shape and grabbed onto the level with his teeth. "Got it!"
"Push it down now!" The others screamed as the centipede prepared to end them. Ace did so, and the wall opened from behind them. "Whoa!" The Team exclaimed as they rolled in before the wall closed on the centipede.
"That was close." Terry said as he got up. "Hey, where's Ace?"
"I'm fine." Ace said as he crawled through a hole on their side.
"Ace!" Rex exclaimed in relief as he hugged the Carnotaurus.
"Way to go, bud!" Terry complimented him.
"Hey, guys." Spiny told them. "I think I found the temple thing's location."
Looking where he was, the others noticed that they were inside a temple. "I think you're right." Tank said as she looked around and noticed a large shrine in the middle with a crystal skull on top of it. "And that must be the crystal skull Spike was talking about!"
"You're right! It's the real thing!" Max said with excitement as they ran over to get a closer look.
"You mean this thing?" Ursula asked as they appeared out of nowhere and placed her hand on it. "Sorry, squirts, but any treasure found in this temple is ours!"
"Not if we stop you!" Max told them.
"How'd you get here before us!?" Spiny asked in shock.
"Uh, how did we get here?" Ursula asked her teammates, as even she wasn't sure how they pulled that off.
"I dunno." They mumbled.
"Whatever, back to business." Ursula shrugged it off as them just getting lucky again.
"That must be the Alpha Metal in its eyes!" Rex pointed out. Sure enough, the eyes were glowing thanks to two spheres in the eyes you had to squint to see.
"You can't steal it. That belongs to the villagers!" Zoe told them.
"Yes, we can. That's why we're criminals. We get to steal things!" Zander shot back.
"That crystal skull belongs right here in this temple where it's been for thousands of years!" Max yelled at them. "And you crooks have no right to take it!"
"I believe it was Shakespeare who said, 'finders keepers'." Ursula said before turning to her teammates. "Grab it and let's go."
"Right!" They said as they tried to pick out the Alpha Metal from the eyes of the skull.
"Stop!" Paris yelled at them. "If you disturb its rest now after all these centuries, there's no telling what might happen!"
"Oh, right, the Spirit of the Moon!" Ursula mocked as she got out an Alpha Scanner and card. "How about some Alpha Slash?!"
"BRONTIKENS! CRUSH THESE ANNOYING BRATS!"
"I'll battle him." Ace volunteered before being recalled.
"DINO SLASH! CARNOTAURUS, BLOW HIM AWAY!"
Once Ace landed, Brontikens charged towards the Carnotaurus. Ace met him midway, head against chest, and the two struggled to knock the other over, surprising given Ace's much smaller size. They backed away and Ace hit Brontikens with his tail, making the Apatosaurus slide back slowly. Ace charged forward and prepared another attack, but Ursula had other plans. "Go, Pawpawsaurus! Showtime!"
Pawpaw appeared in front of him and immediately forced Ace back. "Not again! He's absorbing our attacks!" Max said in frustration.
"Don't worry. I have an idea of what to do." Rex said before getting a Move Card he was certain not even Pawpaw could counter. "Go, Ninja Attack!"
Ace ran incredibly fast and made clones before circling around Brontikens. Seeing he was surrounded, the Apatosaurus mustered all the strength he had and leapt out of the circle and Pawpaw took his place. "What?!" Ace gasped as he attacked Pawpaw instead of his intended target.
"You can't beat me!" Pawpaw told him as he took the hits like they were nothing.
Brontikens landed and winched in pain. That jump was painful for someone of his species to pull off. Ace stopped nearby him and was hit with the Apatosaur's neck, sending the Carnotaurus crashing into and rolling across the floor. "Oh, Ace!" Rex said in pain of watching him get hurt.
"We're stuck as long as Pawpaw keeps blocking every single attack we try throwin' at Brontikens!" Terry said before having a realization. "Wait, that's it! Max, send me out there!"
"But-" Max tried to retort that he was still hurt, but his partner was having none of that.
"Just do it!" Terry roared before being recalled.
"DINO SLASH! FLAME UP, TYRANNOSAURUS!"
Terry landed and helped Ace get back up. "I'm assuming you have a plan." Ace said.
"Obviously." Terry said before looking at their opponents. "Do you want to handle Brontikens or Pawpaw?"
"You handle Pawpaw. You're still injured." Ace told him, immediately realizing what Terry's plan was.
"I take offense to that." Terry joked before they went after their targets. Terry went straight for Brontikens, but Pawpaw got in his way again.
"You won't get past me!" Pawpaw mocked.
"Who said anything about getting past you?" Terry asked as he grabbed Pawpaw with his teeth and threw him into a wall. Ace took this moment of surprise to leap into Brontikens' neck and began bitting on it while the sauropod tried to throw him off.
"They're using the divide and conquer technique!" Max said with excitement. Finally, a way to counter Tag Team.
"What's the hold-up, guys?" Ursula asked, not liking this turn of events. "Pick that Alpha Metal out and let's go!"
"We're trying, but they won't budge!" Ed told her.
"Let's just take the whole skull. Come on, Ed, lift!" Zander exclaimed as the duo picked up the skull.
Once they did, the stand the skull was on descended into the pillar. "What?!" The Alpha Gang exclaimed before the whole temple started shaking. The pillars supporting the ceiling started to crumble and break. "This does not feel like a good thing." Ursula commented.
The shaking wasn't just in the temple, but the outside as well. "Those fools have awakened the Moon Spirit!" The Priest announced in horror. The rest of the villagers bowed in fear.
Back in the temple, rocks from the ceiling started to fall on top of the D-Team and Alpha Gang. "Let's get outta here!" Ed said as he covered his head to prevent rocks from falling on it. "Ooh!"
The constant shaking, not to mention a large rock nearly falling directly on them, caused Zander to drop the skull and for it to roll down the stairs. "The skull's getting away!" Ursula yelled as they ran after it.
Just then, the last pillars collapsed, and the ceiling started to fall. "The ceiling's coming down!" Max yelled as they hid under Terry and Ace.
"Oh, no!" Paris screamed as she hid next to Chomp.
"We've got to think of a way outta here!" Terry exclaimed.
"I don't wanna be squished!" Zander cried as he hid under Brontikens with the rest of his team.
Pawpaw saw the panicked looks of his teammates and decided to do something. "Don't worry, friends, I'll save you!" He said as he ran to where the wall was about to land and stopped it from touching the floor with his body.
"Pawpawsaurus is saving us!" Ed said with delight.
"He's blocking attacks on us now!" Zander smiled.
"So now's our chance." Ursula declared. "Let's save ourselves and go!"
"What about the Alpha Metal and the skull?" Ed asked.
"I'm not about to become jelly for that thing. Are you?" Ursula asked. "Good job, Pawpawsaurus! You keep holding that wall up for us until we make it out of here alive!" She calls out to the struggling dinosaur. "Let's go, boys!"
"Sorry, little guy!" Ed said as they ran out of the room.
"Hold it, you creeps! Pawpaw just saved your lives, and now you're gonna leave him behind?!" Max asked, the furry in his voice very noticeable.
"Let me think. Yep!" Ursula said as they ran out the way they came in, which was another hole in the wall.
"And I thought you weren't such a coward, Brontikens!" Terry roared at him.
Brontikens stopped and didn't look back. "It's best to not let his sacrifice go in vain." He said before leaving through the large hole.
"Friends?" Pawpaw said quietly. He couldn't believe they were abandoning him. Was he not being good enough? The heartbreak was starting to weaken him and his legs were starting to shake in a struggle to keep him standing against the growing pressure of the ceiling.
"What should we do now?" Max asked, breaking Pawpaw from his thoughts as the D-Team gathered in front of him.
"Let's think about this. What was it that started the whole temple collapsing?" Ace asked.
"I know! It was when those guys moved the crystal skull!" Spiny realized.
"That's right!" Max realized. "So if we just put it back, maybe all of this will stop!"
"Worth a try!" Rex said as he ran to pick up the skull, which landed in a pile of rocks.
"In the meantime, we need to find a way to get Pawpaw out." Terry said. "Help me with this rock, Ace!" Terry said as he ran towards a large rock and started to push. "We'll push it under the wall to hold it up!"
"Got it!" Ace said as they started pushing together. With their combined strength, they were able to get the rock right next to the wall.
"Why are you helping me?" Pawpaw asked, still cautious about the D-Team.
"Because that's the right thing to do." Terry grunted as they made contact with Pawpaw and started pushing him out. "Come on, kid, help us out here!"
Pawpaw was still shocked at the Tyrannosaur's kindness before he started to help him by attempting to squeeze out of the wall.
Rex was currently trying to reach the skull and eventually managed to pull it out. "Only now I can't see where it goes anymore!" He said as he tried to look through the cloud of dust. At that moment, a ray of sunlight came through a window and shinned right where the skull was. "Right on cue!" Rex beamed before running towards the light.
Outside, the Alpha Gang had managed to escape the collapsing temple. "Oh." Ursula signed as they collapsed from exhaustion.
"We're saved!" Ed cried as he hugged the shaking ground, but didn't care about the implications as he was still alive.
"But I don't think it was such a good idea leaving the Alpha Metal behind, do you?" Zander asked them.
"That was not Alpha Metal. Got it?" Ursula told him sternly.
"Huh?" Zander and Ed said with confusion.
"Now get this through your thick heads. When we report to Dr.Z, there was no Alpha Metal and there's no reason to come here again." She explained to them.
"No reason to come here again!" The two men repeated with smiles.
"Mm-hmm! And now let's ring him up and give him the bad news." Ursula said as she pulled out her Scanner.
While that happened, Brontikens stayed silent the entire time. What Terry said rang through his head like a bell. "Why does it matter if I left him to die or not? If he truly wanted to be in my herd he shouldn't have let his emotions get the better of him. His softness made him weak, and weakness kills."
Back in the temple, poor Pawpaw didn't have any strength left and was forced to return to his card. "Ah!" Everyone gasped as the card flew across the room before landing on the floor and being picked up by Chomp. Everyone hurried under Ace and Terry and hopped the rock would hold long enough.
Rex picked up his speed quickly placed the skull on the platform. "Oh, please work." He prayed. Once he did, the entire skull started to glow and the stand rose back up. "Ah!" Rex covered his eyes from the blinding light.
"Oh!" The rest of the team gasped as a bright light engulfed the entire temple.
When it cleared, the temple appeared as if nothing had happened. "It worked! The temple's back to normal!" Rex beamed.
"Whoa, that was close." Max said, still shocked about everything that just happened.
"Hey, guys!" Chomp called out as he ran over to them. "Look what I got!" He showed off the card on his mouth.
"Pawpaw's card!" Terry beamed, happy to know the kid was safe. "Thanks, Bro."
Outside, the light cleared as well. The villagers all bowed for the restored peace. "Well, that's very strange." The Priest said as he rose and looked around before noticing something. "Oh!"
He saw the Alpha Gang on a flying bicycle-like machine, peddling back home. "Alpha Gang is leaving the temple!" Ursula announced. "It was a little bit rough, but we're all okay." She told Dr.Z over the communicator on the machine.
"Spare me the details." Dr.Z told her. "Did you find the Alpha Metal?"
"Uagh!" The Alpha Gang gasped nervously as they forgot to come up with a perfect lie. "Well, actually, Dr.Z, it turns out there really was no Alpha Metal anywhere in that temple, although they did have some lovely artwork on the walls." Ursula beamed with a scared smile.
"And we didn't find a Move Card in a dinosaur capsule, or a crystal skull, and definitely not a Pawpawsa-ooh!" Ursula quickly punched Zander's head to stop his blabbing, Ed covering his out of reflex from all the times his head was bashed.
"Did I ask you to speak?!" She hissed at him.
"Is that so?" Dr.Z asked with a smirk. "You know, it's hard to believe just how much the three of you fail each and every time, so I built a special lie detector device into your flying machine so I can be sure you're always telling me the absolute truth!"
"Uh-oh." The trio said in unison, knowing something bad was coming.
"And it looks like the results are in!" Dr.Z said before the whole machine started shocking the trio, leaving them fried to a crisp.
"Aaaah!" They screamed as they were electrocuted again. "They weren't even good lies." The trio said before they resumed pedaling. "This lie detector thing is sure gonna put a crimp in our style." Zander moaned. "At least it's still flying." The trio said right before the machine broke and they plummeted to the ground again.
DK
"Good thing we got the crystal skull back in time, or the whole temple would have come down." Max said as they looked at the temple once they were back outside.
"And we owe it all to Terry, Ace, Rex, and Pawpaw." Chomp said.
"Oh, thank you, my children!" The Priest announced.
"Hmm?" The team looked to see the villagers in front of the temple, looking like they were praising them.
"Please show us again the huge creatures with which you saved our temple, so that we may honor them!"
"Uh..." Was all they could say.
A few minutes later, the three dinosaurs were summoned in front of the villagers. Rex didn't want all the attention and chose to keep his part a secret. "These animals bravely challenged the Sprits of the Sun and Moon!" The Priest announced. "Thanks to them, the two Spirits stand alongside once another in peace!"
"Yes." The villagers said before bowing alongside the Priest.
"It was really nothing." Ace said, embarrassed by the attention. Now he understood why Rex wanted to keep quiet about his role in saving the temple.
"Should we really be doing this?" Rex asked his friends, finding the whole thing risky since the dinosaurs are supposed to be a secret, and this is the exact opposite of keeping things secret.
"Oh, come on. It's not hurting anybody." Max assured the blonde.
"Plus, Terry and Pawpaw really seem to love the attention."
"Why are they face planting?" Pawpaw asked Terry, looking at the villagers with confusion.
"They're not face planting, they're bowing for us. Thanking us for saving them." Terry told the young dinosaur.
"Thanking me? But, I thought I was a bad guy."
"Not anymore." Terry said before giving Pawpaw a welcoming nuzzle. "Welcome to the herd, kid."
"Let us continue honoring our guests with peanut butter and pickle sandwiches!" The Priest declared, making the villagers cheer in delight, along with an oblivious Pawpaw.
DK
"I cannot believe those idiots would be so stupid!"
"Calm down! The kids stopped it from happening, right?"
"I know. But none of them understand what just happened. They don't know what the crystal skull really is."
"And if the ritual was completed, then it's the end of the world, right?"
"Correct. All our work would have been put to waste."
"Hey, the D-Team are making sure the Alpha Gang isn't getting anywhere with their plans."
"Only the small plans. You know there are bigger things going on than they know!"
"Are you suggesting we enter the game as well?"
"No, stupid. We do nothing until the boss is back. That was an order."
"For now, we continue to watch. For all our sakes."
Next time on Dinosaur King:
Rex: Why do I have to have the only dinosaur alive that's afraid of water?
Reese: The signal's coming from Niagara Falls
Captain Mackerel: Sea monster!
Rex: Ace, we need you to fight!
A/N: And we end part two of the anniversary. Thank you all for an amazing year.
So some things about this chapter: One would be Pawpaw's character. According to the wiki, he should be a juvenile so that's where I came up with the idea for a dino puppy dog. That was before I realized the pun with his name, I swear!
Another thing would be that the little guy will show up again, in fact, he'll be in the next chapter. He's going to mostly be with Terry (who I expanded the role of so him being honored would be right instead of having him do nothing and take all of Ace's credit) but Chomp might use him sometimes.
With all that said and done, see you all next time.